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Critical Review of Sanskrit Course Books with an Eye to the Future of Sanskrit Education

  • 불교학리뷰
  • Abbr : Critical Review for Buddhist Studies
  • 2019, (25), pp.79-103
  • DOI : 10.29213/crbs..25.201904.79
  • Publisher : Geumgang Center for Buddhist Studies
  • Research Area : Humanities > Buddhist Studies
  • Received : March 10, 2019
  • Accepted : April 3, 2019
  • Published : April 30, 2019

KANG, Sung Yong 1

1서울대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

The Sanskrit education has seldom been the main source of interest in the circle of professional Sanskritists worldwide, inculding Korea. However, confronting the drastic change of social settings around higher education makes more serious consideration and discussion of Sanskrit education timely. This paper, concentrating exclusively on Sanskrit course books, points out some structural problems that are hardly avoidable for any Sanskrit course book. And a short genealogy of Sanskrit grammar books is introduced and contextualized, in order to reveal the historical contexts of the widely used Sanskrit course books, and their specific features that deal with structural and practical problems of didactic presentations of the language. On the course, the meaning and stance of W. D. Whitneyʼs grammar book, used in western academia, is clarified and discussed to contextualize the Sanskrit Primer of Perry, which is an English translation of Bühlerʼs Leitfaden, but declared a separate publication based on Perryʼs subjective estimation. This marks a paradigm shift in the preparation of a course book that, at least nominally, departs from the Pāṇinian tradition. Nowadays, textbooks show various attempts to find the optimal educational focus, while respecting and adopting advantageous aspects of the Indian traditions. So far, Korean textbooks (worth mentioning) have not yet developed, and so English publications are widely used in college level Sanskrit courses in Korea. Critical reviews of some frequently used English textbooks are included and mention is made of the practical applicability for Korean students of those individual materials. The latest trend of textbooks that reflect the changes in the media environment is introduced and the need for an open attitude to cope with this trend is raised.

Citation status

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